Share this interview

Strates Carnival

When the James E. Strates Carnival staked its tents near downtown Washington, DC, in the spring of 1941, Library of Congress archivist Charles Harrell was there to meet it. He was part of the Library’s Radio Research Project, a small group dedicated to recording Americans “speaking without script, discussing their problems, telling eloquently the story of their regions, the story of their own experience — their songs — their folklore.” The carnival, basically in the Library’s backyard, was a perfect opportunity.

The Strates carnivals are still in existence — it is now the only remaining carnival company that travels the country by railroad — but the show itself has changed a great deal over the past six decades. Fortune tellers and weight guessers, burlesque dancers and two-headed babies, Harrell’s recordings capture the sounds of an era long gone.

Recorded in Washington, D.C. Premiered September 3, 2002 on Morning Edition.

Baby Betty, one of the carnival’s attractions.

This documentary comes from Sound Portraits Productions, a mission-driven independent production company that was created by Dave Isay in 1994. Sound Portraits was the predecessor to StoryCorps and was dedicated to telling stories that brought neglected American voices to a national audience.

Credits

Produced By

Music

Transcript

BARKER: The James E. Strates Shows presents a real two-headed baby, with two perfectly normal heads, four perfectly formed arms and hands, and only two legs and two feet on the one single body. Born of normal parents of a normal birth, the same as you and I. Come in now and visit with the baby just as long as you like . . . (Fades.)

(Carnival music.)

FORTUNE TELLER BARKER: Right now is a very good time to have a reading of your life. Have your fortune told, have your palm read. Special readings in private booths . . . (Fades.)

FORTUNE TELLER: Let me see your hand, please. Nineteen-forty-one, this year, is going to be a very happy year.

WOMAN: Is that so?

FORTUNE TELLER: What questions would you like to ask me, please?

WOMAN: I’m thinking of taking a trip. Should I take it?

FORTUNE TELLER: It shows a trip that you’re going to take that’s going to be very successful. My advice is for you to take the trip . . . (Fades.)

(Carnival music.)

BARKER: And don’t fail to see that daring, sensational, death-defying human canonball, that famous Manuel Zacchini.

CHARLES HARRELL: Zacchini will you tell me just in your own words how the canon act works?

ZACCHINI: Well the canon act works by compressed air so the man is automatically shoot out on the different ways . . .

HARRELL: You shoot the canon, is that right?

ZACCHINI: I shoot the canon, that’s right.

HARRELL: And who is it who is shot out of the canon?

ZACCHINI: Manuel, my brother Manuel. But our family is made of seven brothers, which they all are in the canon business.

HARRELL: Yes. Tell me, have there ever been any serious accidents?

ZACCHINI: Not very serious. But some of the brothers got their legs broken, and ribs, the end of the spine, muscles . . .

HARRELL: When your brother is shot out of the end of the canon, is he conscious the whole time?

ZACCHINI: I tell you frankly, I hope so, anyway. (Fades.)

(Carnival music.)

WEIGHT GUESSER: Anybody else? Who’s next one now? Come in and fool the guesser. Any prize you want if I fail to guess your weight. Don’t hurt, there’s nothing to hurt you. It isn’t like going to a dentist. Come on in. All I do, we guess the women by observation. We look in their eyes and tell them what they weigh . . . (Fades.)

(Motorcycle ambience.)

MOTORCYCLE BARKER: Moto-maniacs, upside-down riders, crazy riders, crazy drivers on the walls of death. Passing and re-passing, crossing and re-crossing. Where they race, where they ride, where they race, ride, and drive. High-powered motorcycles on a straight-up-and-down perpendicular wall.

(Motorcycle ambience.)

SPEEDY HAYES: Well, my name is Speedy Hayes. Thirty-nine years of age, been in this business for the past twenty years. I learned to ride in the racetracks of Schenley Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, when motorcycles first came out.

SIDE-SHOW BARKER: The feature attractions of this big circus side-show. The man that eats and drinks fire the same as you and I eat a hearty meal. Watch him! Mr. Pete Holmes draws beautiful pictures on that piece of white porcelain using nothing but smoke. Watch him!

(Burlesque music.)

BURLESQUE BARKER: Here at the vanities we present burlesque as you like it: red-hot, spicy, saucy, sizzling, burlesque entertainment. Now I don’t mean that these girls do any tap dancing, toe dancing, ballet dancing, soft-shoe dancing, or acrobatic dancing. The kind of dancing that these girls do is the kind that you expect to find at a carnival midway. And believe you me you will not be disappointed. If you’re a broad-minded person, if you’re living in the 20th century, the girls will give you the show, and I mean they’ll give it to you just the way you want it. It’s burlesque as you like it: red-hot, spicy, saucy, sizzling, burlesque entertainment. Get tickets, go now.